The Late One
by Fireballmonkey
Summary: Jaune Arc arrives a bit later than the rest of the students at Beacon. He also arrives a lot smarter than the other students. And, nobody knows a thing about his life. That's how he likes it. The more he learns, the more ready he'll be for when the man in the lightning comes. (Slightly inspired by flash season 2, has some small elements from other things) (Harem)
1. Chapter 1

The students of Beacon gathered in the auditorium for a special announcement. One of those students was Ruby Rose, the newly appointed leader of the newly formed Team RWBY. With her was her team and a Team PRN(Prawn), which was only made up of three people due to a shortage in first years. No one knew exactly why the gathering took place, but it must've been important since Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were waiting on stage for the murmurs to die down.

Once they stopped, Ozpin cleared his throat and spoke into the lone microphone. "Ladies and gentleman, I'm sure you're all curious about why you are all gathered here tonight. Allow me to put your curiosities to rest. As of now, a new student will be joining your class as a first year."

This only triggered more chattering being exchanged amongst the crowd. The professor raised his hands to quell the murmuring.

"He will spend the next few weeks mingling, rooming and training with some of the teams we think would be a suitable match. Once he's come to a decision, he will be partnered with a team for the rest of his days here at Beacon Academy. So, without further adieu, please welcome Jaune Arc."

The crowd waited silently as a sole set of footsteps could be heard. A young man walked on stage. He wore a black hoodie with pieces of dark grey armor attached. He wore dark blue jeans and black sneakers with white accents. Slung over his back was a strange-looking, dark grey rifle.

Its barrel was angled on the top and bottom triangularly, with glowing lines of blue light running along it and spreading across the receiver, trigger guard and stock. It also had a blocky, ovular scope with the same blue light coming from it and seems to float inches from the top of the gun. He stepped forward next to Ozpin and removed his hood to reveal shaggy blonde hair peaking out from a grey flannel beanie and a pair of cobalt eyes protected by a pair of rectangular glasses. He also had a strange pistol of the same color pallet attached to his right thigh. The boy placed his hands behind his back and waited calmly, scanning over the crowd.

"Now, we've determined that the first team Mr. Arc shall be tasked with will be Team RWBY."

Ruby and her friends were taken by surprise, and the stares from the other first years didn't help. Some were jealous stairs that the four girls would get to know the new student first, other envious looks were cast upon the buy himself.

* * *

As Ruby and her team walked back to their dorm, they talked about what to make of Jaune Arc. "He didn't seem too excited about being here." Blake said.

"The dunce probably thinks he's to good for this school." Weiss commented.

"I don't know, did you see that awesome looking rifle he had?"

"I wasn't looking at his rifle." Yang finished with an eyebrow wiggle.

"Well, regardless, we should still treat him like one of the team and try to get to know him." Ruby advised as she unlocked the door and opened it. As it swung open, the girls were greeted to the sight of Jaune Arc reclining in a chair, his feet resting on one of the desks as he cleaned his pistol with an oilcloth. When he saw them, he pushed his glasses up his nose and greeted them. "S'up?" He then scrutinized them through the spectacles for a moment before pointing a finger at each one. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long."

Weiss scowled at the boy. "How do you know our names?" Jaune leaned back in his seat and placed the gun on his desk, but kept his hand on it protectively. "I scoped all your files. Gotta say, I'm impressed. Excellent combat scores, a prodigy leader, a tactically balanced unit, all-in-all-"

"Wait, how did you get our files?"

"Ozpin gave me all the team files. How else would I be able to choose the first team?"

"Why choose us?" Blake questioned. "Did you not here what I just said? Balanced Unit. Prodigy leader. Good combat scores. Your team would help my experience here become most fruitful."

"Now, let's just get introductions out of the way. My name is Jaune Arc. I graduated from Atlas University of Science with masters in Physics, Computer Programming and Biochemistry." He held out his hand to shake. Ruby shook first, the rest of her team following suit.

After, Ruby immediately sped to the desk where Jaune's weapons lay. She picked up the rifle spewed forth a flood of questions about how it worked and how he made it, but Jaune shushed her with a finger. "That," He said as he plucked it from her reluctant grip, "Is the Z-250 Directed Energy Engagement Weapon, or Hard-light Rifle. I call it Prometheus. It can fire a three round burst or semi-automatic shot of solidified plasma compressed down to the atom and superheated using solar magnification and micro-fusion, or, Hard Light. It can also mecha-shift into a variety of ballistic weapons to suit any combat scenario."

"How is that even scientifically possible? And how have none of us heard or seen one of those before?" Weiss asked, "Well, _mon petit coéquipier,_ I invented it. Took me three years of research and an ass-load of lien, along with the training and practice of my semblance."

"So, you graduated from the most prestigious University on Remnant, invented a weapons technology unheard of until now, and-"

" _And_ , there's more." He grabbed a large cardboard box from under a cot that was set up in the corner of the dorm room. Jaune then took out his scroll and tapped a few icons. The box shook for a moment until out popped a spherical robot that hovered in the air over the bed.

It looked like it was built out of spare parts, with some license plates and sheets of different metals welded to its hull. It had a few antennae sticking backward from the top and sides of its body, and a speaker grate for a face with a square satellite dish on top. "Girls, meet ED-E." The robot let out a welcoming beep and seemed to bow its...head-body. Ruby let out a giggle, while the other girls stood wide-eyed. "Yes, I made him, too."

"What is that thing?!" Weiss demanded. Jaune's right eye twitched and he took a deep breath in and out. "ED-E is not a _thing,_ Ms. Schnee. He's a Model E Duraframe Eyebot programmed with a basic artificial intelligence module."

"What does he do?" Ruby asked excitedly. "Oh, lots of things. He's programmed with maintenance and repair functions and micro-fusion cell production so he can create more ammunition for my guns. And..." Jaune tapped another icon on his scroll, "He plays music~." The eyebot then shot out a trumpet riff followed by an old swing song.

 _Oh I've got spuuurrss that jingle, jangle, jingle (jingle, jangle)_

He switched the music function off and ED-E hovered over to the desk where Jaune's weapons were and shone a blue beam of light over them. "What's it- _he_ doing?" Blake questioned.

"He's scanning my weapons for any damage or need of upkeep." The robot let out a series of beeps toward Jaune. "No, they don't need another sterilization." He called back.

"You can understand it?" Weiss asked, "It? There's an it in here? I don't see an it. ED-E, do you see an it." The bot chirped a negative sounding beep. Weiss let out an annoyed sigh. "You understand _him_?"

"Yep."

"Well, how-"

"Look, Ms. Schnee, it's getting late and we all need some sleep." Jaune walked back to his table and shut off ED-E, placing him gently in the box and sliding it under his cot before removing his hoodie. It caught on the white T-shirt he wore under it and it slid up with the jacket, exposing half of his back to the girls that were still watching him, that being all but Ruby, who was in the bathroom changing.

They saw, in addition to his lean but well toned back, the beginnings of a 4-point-star-shaped scar at the small of his back. Before they could see any more, the shirt rolled back down his back. He kicked off his shoes and pushed them just under the bed next to ED-E's box. He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, followed by a yawn.

* * *

 **5:49 AM**

Jaune woke up at precisely 5:49 on the minute. Just as he had for the past two years. As he had since he woke up in the hospital. He grabbed a set of his clothes and went into the bathroom. After an extremely hot shower, he slipped on the clothes. He dressed him self in a grey hoodie, black sweatpants and black running shoes, along with his beanie. Once dressed, the boy slipped out of the room and while the girls were still sleeping and went down to the cafeteria.

Jaune sat alone in the dining area, a cup of steaming coffee and a rather thick book in front of him. He took a sip from the bitter-sweet drink, a feeling of nostalgia washing over him. He thought back to drinking the liquid at a small cafe across the street from his old lab here in Vale. He hoped his friends were handling the upkeep there. He should probably go down and see how they're doing.

He was broken from his thoughts when he heard the clacking of heels and turned to see Professor Goodwitch. "Mr. Arc. You do know that children your age shouldn't be drinking so much of that."

"Ah, Ms. Goodwitch. Good morning." He said without looking up from his book.

"Indeed. Might I ask why you're up at this our?"

"I've woken up at the same time every day for the past two years, one month and fifteen days." Jaune answered with out looking up from his book. He gestured to his coffee cup. "As you can imagine, enthusiasm can only get you so far." The teacher looked a bit shocked and before she could ask anything else, Jaune rose and started to leave. "Well, it's been a pleasure, but I have some things I must attend to." With that, he walked out of the cafeteria, the professor's eyes trailing on him until he was out of sight.

Jaune Arc was nothing if not an enigma. He had no records of attending a combat school. In fact, he barely had records. The only things Goodwitch could find when she was examining student forms was a birth certificate, school degrees from AUS, and his test scores for Beacon. Other than that, the boy might as well have never existed. Glynda narrowed her eyes, _'Who are you, Mr. Arc?'_.


	2. Chapter 2

**7:30 AM**

Jaune slowed his jogging to a walk, and then stopped, putting his hands on his knees and hunching over slightly as he panted heavily. He walked over to a metal bench on the side of the track in Beacon's gym. The place was basically a giant room with a track running around the interior perimeter with different workout equipment scattered around.

 _"And that's lap 30. Looks like your in better shape than you thought, Jaune."_ Jaune took his personal scroll out and watched as a violet holographic figure of an impish boy in his tweens popped up. He was wearing a lab coat that was two sizes too big with the sleeves rolled up over a t-shirt and baggy shorts. "Good morning, Theta."

 _"Morning. Scans show that your pulse is solid, still a bit fast from your run, but it's coming back down. How do you like Beacon?"_

"It's been... Educational, so far. The team I picked for my first few weeks is pretty nice."

 _"I know. I saw their files. I like Ruby the most. Mostly 'cause Weiss and Blake scare me and Yang makes me feel...weird."_ Jaune nodded in agreement. _"_ _What about your chest? Any more aches or pains I should make note of?"_

"No, Theta. I'm quite alright. How about your project?" He sat down on the bench. _"Its great! Wanna see?"_

"Sure thing." Theta nodded excitedly. With a motion of his hands, tiny, holographic fireworks shot up around him. "That's really great, Theta." He turned when he heard the door open and saw a redheaded girl walk in. "Power off, Theta."

 _"Alright."_ He said, albeit a bit saddened at the mid-show cancellation. He watched as the girl drew near. He recognized the hair and green eyes, among other things, as the one and only Pyrrha Nikos. Reigning Mistral tournament champion, top of her class at Sanctum Academy, and former spokesperson for Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Cereal. And now, the leader of team PRN. He sat there with his elbows on his knees and took out his glasses. Jaune started to wipe some condensation off with his sleeve when Pyrrha reached the bench and laid a small duffle on the ground next to it. "Good morning. You're the new student that came late, right?" Jaune nodded and stood. "Jaune Arc. It's a pleasure." They shook hands.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos. I'm glad to have you here at Beacon."

"Likewise."

"So, what are you doing here, Jaune? Not many students leave their dorms this early."

"Yes, well, I'm not most students. I just came to see if I could wake up a bit more and think. But, I should get ready for classes now. I'll see you around."

* * *

 **8:20 AM**

After another hot shower (which his team didn't have to know about, since he _may_ have used the rest of the hot water), he dressed himself in his uniform. It consisted of a black jacket with gold trimmings over a blue vest, white dress shirt and red tie, along with black pants and shoes. After that, he decided to refuel after his morning run.

The boy headed down to the cafeteria and grabbed some food, along with more coffee. He finished quickly and strolled to his first class, that being with Professor Peter Port. Jaune found the room and opened the door to see a large, portly man pushing a large crate. Said crate kept shaking and growling. That wasn't supposed to be in a classroom. "Uh, hello?"

Said portly man shot straight upright and turned to Jaune. The man had one of the biggest mustaches the boy had ever seen. He was dressed sharply in a reddish-brown burgundy blazer with gold trimmings and black slacks and shoes. "Ah, a strapping young student reporting to class ahead of schedule. I like it! Tell me, boy, what's your name?"

"Uh, Jaune Arc, sir." The man approached and gave him strong handshake. "Wonderful to meet you, lad. Now, you look like someone who can stand a bit of manual labor, would you mind assisting me in moving this large box here? I'll be needing it at the end of class."

"Of course, sir." Together, they pushed it next to Port's desk and Jaune took a seat. He reached in his back pocket and took out paperback book. He spent some time just letting his eyes run over the pages, but he couldn't focus. His mind kept wandering to more pressing matters, matters involving the thing that single-handedly destroyed his life. The thing he'd created. He was brought back to the here-and-now by the bell sounding just as teams RWBY and PRN ran through the doors. He must've zoned out longer than he thought, considering the whole class had came in while he was thinking.

He also noticed that he was white-knuckling the book he held. He stowed it and watched as RWBY in the row of seats below him and PRN to his right. The professor started a lengthy and boring lecture about how when he was a boy, yada yada yada-he tuned it out.

Skip an hour, and then... "So, in conclusion, a true huntsman must be honorable, a true huntsman must be dependable, a true huntsman must be courageous, well-educated, and wise. And that is why I have selected an individual to demonstrate his prowess. Mr. Arc, will you step up and show us what you can do?"

Jaune rose his head from where it was resting on his folded arms. He saw Professor Port gesture to the crate they'd moved that was now shaking and emitting more growls. Jaune nodded before exiting to get equipped.

* * *

The classroom of students waited, talking amongst themselves. A student who arrived late with weapons never seen before and was about to fight something in class, so the excessive chatter wasn't seen as very, well, excessive.

Finally, Jaune walked in in his combat getup. He kept fiddling with the three point harness that had an interwoven strip of magnetized titanium, which is what he used to hold Prometheus to his back. He had a similar, smaller harness wrapped around his leg to keep the strange pistol in place.

The professor spoke up, "Are you ready to engage in combat, Mr. Arc?" He had his blunder-axe in hand and, after Jaune nodded and adjusted his glasses, he crushed the lock on the big wooden crate. From the shadows charged a fully grown boarbatusk. It lowered its head to impale the teen on its scimitar-like tusks, but Jaune just rolled out of the way while his arm removed the pistol from his thigh in such a smooth motion that it was like liquid flowing.

As he spun, he squeezed the trigger twice and sent two glowing blue bolts of 'hard-light' into the grimm's hind right leg. The students watched in awe and shock as the rounds burned away at the black flesh, leaving a rising trail of bluish-white vapor.

The leg collapsed under the boar's weight, and it had to switch its weight to the other three. It limp-hopped around to try and charge Jaune again, but he just planted his foot on the grimm's faceplate. He switched to his rifle, shouldered it and shoved the barrel into its glowing red eye. His expression changed from uncaring and mellow to a cold scowl as Prometheus spat the killing round into its brain. The body started dissolving and Jaune slung his rifle and walked out of the now silent room.

Not at all expecting the fight to end in twelve seconds, Port cleared his throat as the bell rang. "Um, yes, well...Class dismissed. Be sure to cover the assigned readings. And remember, stay vigilant!"

* * *

As Jaune walked out, he stopped and checked his pistol for any signs of damage. He stepped into a side corridor as he heard Ruby and Weiss arguing.

"Weiss! Why are you acting like this? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader and all you've done so far is be a nuisance."

"What did I do?"

"That's just it, Ruby. You've done nothing to earn you're position! I've studied. And trained. And frankly, I deserve better. Ozpin made a mistake."

Jaune took the opportunity to step back into the light. "With _little_ -due respect, Ms. Schnee, Ms. Rose _is_ the one who formulated and executed the plan to kill an adult nevermore during initiation. Along with that, you speak of having to prove yourself capable of being a leader, yet you've done nothing but whine and yell at the girl."

"You're taking her side?"

"Yes." Jaune now stood firm and glared at her, "Leading people and having their lives in your hands is a responsibility that Ozpin would not give out lightly." Weiss crawled in frustration and stormed off. "Is she right?" Jaune turned to Ruby. He gestured for her to follow him and sat down against the wall. "Ruby, why are you here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you come to Beacon? Why become a huntress?" She looked down in thought. "So that I could help people. My parents were great huntsman, and I guess I wanted to be like them. But, it was mainly because I wanted to keep people safe." Jaune nodded. "A noble goal. But if you want to do that, first you have to lead your team, including me. A leader has to be able to make difficult choices that'll determine who lives and dies on the battlefield. There will come a time when you'll have to make that decision. And you'll also have to be able to continue to lead on and stay focused on the task at hand if..." Jaune hesitated, "If one of your own does't make it back with you. That is when the true test of character comes about."

"You say that like you've done it." Jaune stayed quiet for a minute. He then got up and offered Ruby a hand. "So, what now?"

"I was going to go find a shooting range and relieve some stress in a semi-productive manner. Would you like to come?"

"Okay! Let me change and get Crescent Rose!" She then sped off.

* * *

 _Two years ago..._

 _The city of Volare, Atlas was bustling with the fervor fueled only by a groundbreaking turn of events that could potentially change the world. News had come around that two prodigy geniuses, only sixteen years of age, had built, and were about to activate, a machine that used electrically powered fusion generators. The power cells of these generators were said to have been infused with a person's aura and would generate enough juice to power the whole kingdom. Needless to say, excitement had filled the air. It also filled the swarms of people that had come to spectate the activation from outside a huge building._

 _The building was dome-shaped with the walls made of steel-reinforced concrete and the ceiling made of glass. It was all one big room, with large metal coils lining the perimeter at twenty meter intervals._

 _The coils were connected by thick wires that all fed to the center, where a metal structure was being examined by a sixteen year-old boy. His blue eyes moved over every inch of the structure. Calculating any possible fault in its integrity._

 _Four circular frames were placed in a square on a raised platform, with one frame on top. The frames were made of metal but had strips of blue light in the middles that pulsed every few seconds. The boy walked over to a large computer setup. He started typing in a bunch of codes. The boy turned when he heard the sliding glass doors to the room open. In walked another boy. This one had stark-white hair and dark purple eyes that flickered anxiously over the data pad he held in his hands. "Uh, Jaune? I think you should take a look at some of these projections I've been cooking up for the APEG(Aura Powered Electrical Generator). If we don't plug in the right aura/electricity ratio, the power might be enough to de-energize the human body down to the molecular level, not to mention explode. I'm talking nervous systems shutting down, zero motor-control, I mean-"_

 _Jaune placed a hand on the other boy's shoulder. "Lukas, we'll be fine. If I had the slightest doubt that things would go wrong, we wouldn't be here. This is what we've dreamed of achieving since we were twelve! We're finally here." He still seemed hesitant. Jaune sighed, "Look, we'll clear the building of all nonessential_ _personnel. I can have them shut the blast doors so,_ if _there's any sort of negative consequence it'll stay contained. We can't back down, not now." That seemed to receive some of Lukas's worry._

 _Then, an older man in a lab coat came in and told them, "It's time."_

 _Jaune turned to his_ _best friend once more. "Moment of truth." He gave the word to initiate the safety protocols and they both headed to a large console that held the computers. The frame contained numerous buttons, switches and dials, but the most important thing was the two hand shaped glass panels on it._

 _Jaune entered some more commands into the computer and, with Lukas next to him, they both placed one hand each flat against the panels. The glass started to glow a blue color as huge sheets of metal extended to cover the glass ceiling, windows and doors._

 _Jaune heard a loud alarm blaring, and then a huge flash of light, followed by white hot pain coursing up his arm and consuming his entire being._

 _Then darkness._


	3. Chapter 3

5:49. Wake up. Get dressed. Eat. Work out. Shower. Get dressed again. Go to class. Do schoolwork. And now, head into Vale. Jaune walked along the sidewalk, absorbing the sounds of the city. It had only been a few weeks since he'd last been here, but he still felt anxious to get to his destination.

He walked another few blocks with the box containing ED-E in it, and turned a corner, heading to the warehouse district. Jaune kept going until he found lot 111. There he stood before a large, ordinary looking compound, like all the other warehouses. Inside, however, was a different story. He opened the large door to find that the interior had been redone with steel tiles attached to the walls in a grid pattern, along with a concrete floor. A few yards away, a steel ramp led to a wide raised platform. He climbed up the ramp and surveyed the floor. Several metal tables held a wide assortment of books, blueprints, computer parts and weapon parts.

Sitting in a wheeled chair with his feet propped up on one of the tables was a boy in a brown garrison jacket and red pants with white sneakers. His blonde hair that was tinged red at the tips was hanging back and down due to the magazine resting on his sleeping face. Jaune heard a young woman's voice shout, "Michael? Michael! Get up, bitch!" A wrench then sailed over the railing that lined the platform from the ground floor and landed on the boy, now named Michael's stomach. He recoiled and groaned as the tool impacted his abdomen and fell out of the chair. He pulled himself up, clutching his stomach. Jaune went to help him, only to dodge another wrench.

"You didn't call." He heard the same girl say as she climbed a ladder and hopped over the railing. Nikki Harper had blond hair with a single, smoke-grey streak running through it. Her hair was swept over her left eye in the front and the rest pulled back in a low ponytail. She was wearing a black sleeveless hoodie with red accents and blue jeans with black sneakers.

"Nikki, Michael, it's good to see you again." The two were twins, the hair and their matching sets of blood red eyes proof enough. Jaune set ED-E's box down on a table. He leaned back against it and regarded them with a curious look.

"So, why do you need ED-E so badly?" Michael moved to a computer and began sifting through files. "Well, we found some of our old hard drives, the huge ones, but there protected by some kind of locks that we think ED-E has access to."

Jaune nodded. He remembered how he'd stored valuable data about the APEG and lots of other things on the drives. He'd built special, radar-shaped energy ports that ED-E unlocked with a small electric charge from the antennae under his speaker. He activated his robot companion with his scroll and had Nikki grab one of the drives.

It looked like a big, black and grey, plastic box with some blinking lights and some wire ports. This specific drive, however, was marked by writing in magic marker on the side, _BEDB_. They hooked it up to a computer processor connected to the monitor Michael was using and had ED-E zap it. As the storage device unlocked, numbers started scrolling across Michael's computer before the screen went black.

"What the shit biscuit is this!?" He checked the wiring and then opened the monitor to see that the microchip inside had caught fire and melted. He looked accusingly at Jaune. "Care to explain, Mr. Genius?"

The boy scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, that may have turned out to be one of the decoys I'd made."

"What?! Why would you make a decoy for a twenty pound hard drive?"

"Because it had very valuable info on it."

"How valuable?"

"Stopping _him_ important. For good."

"Really?" They turned to Nikki, who had a look somewhere between hopeful, resentful and melancholy. Probably all three. "Have you really found a way to stop Lukas?"

"It's _not_ Lukas. Not anymore." Jaune snapped. Nikki winced at his venomous tone. Jaune sighed and leaned back against the table. He stared at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, guys. I know I'm not the only one he hurt." He sent a pained look toward Nikki.

A year before, the thing that used to be Jaune's best friend, Lukas Diaboli, had found the lab Jaune, Michael, Nikki and her girlfriend of eight months, Piper Fields, were using as a test ground for new ways to try and contain him after the accident with the APEG. They'd had so many different weapons and traps. Most were destroyed, along with the building when they'd lured Lukas there in hopes that there was some sign of his friend still inside. When that didn't work, they dried to trap him in a prison made out of carbon-lined glass that constantly vibrated at different frequencies so he couldn't phase through. It didn't work.

Jaune shivered as he recalled the raspy, malicious voice of his once close friend. He remembered the sight of him shoving his hand, vibrating so fast it could phase through solid steel, through Piper's chest and stopping her heart. How he'd slaughtered a whole unit of police officers in less than three seconds. Lives snuffed out in an instant. He shook his head and came back to the present.

"So, how many of the drives did we recover from the lab in Atlas?" Nikki grabbed some papers sitting on a chair and rifled through them until she found a shipping manifest. "Looks like we pulled six out of the twenty from the wreckage. How many of those were just decoys?"

Jaune muttered something incoherently. "What was that, Jauney?"

"Five. Five out of the six we recovered could be decoys. However, even one of those drives would be worth it if we find the schematics for the BEDB. Even more so if we find the launcher."

"But, Jaune, that thing was just a theory."

"Well it's the best I can think of right now." Nikki sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine. Fine, we'll need the robot here to unlock them while you get back to Beacon and keep searching for something... huntsman-ish that might take him down."

Jaune nodded. This probably wouldn't bare fruit, but what other choice did they have? Zoom, that's the name the media gave him after he pulled another mass murder display off and sped away in a flash of blue lightening. No one knew where he was, and they did't know what he was planning.

Or who he used to be.

The BEDB stood for Bio-Electric-Dampening-Brace. It was metal circlet, lined with nano-sized magnets that, in theory, could pull apart the electrified atoms that made Zoom...well, Zoom. The launcher was just that. It worked like a gun that shot the brace out at roughly 294 fps. Once it made contact with an extremity, it locked around it and the magnets activated. If they could get it around a leg, arm, even his neck, Zoom would be just another murderer, no super speed.

That brought his thoughts to a single question. What would he do to Zoom if he caught him? No prison could hold the monster, Piper's death was evidence enough of that. If it came down to it, Jaune knew he'd have to kill him.

 _'Lukas Diaboli died the night you failed, Jaune. You're responsible for what happened. Now you'll reap what you sow!'_ That was what he'd said before killing Piper, one of his closest friends. The love of Nikki's life. And it was his fault.

Jaune steeled himself, his hands curling up into fists. His eyes filled with resolve. "I promised you guys that I'd find him. That I'd stop from hurting anyone ever again. I don't go back on my word."

* * *

Combat class with Prof. Goodwitch came around, and Jaune had been paired up to fight Kevin Winchester. What kind of a name is Kevin?

He made his way toward his side of the arena. Kevin wore a big set of grey armor with an eagle printed on the front, he rested a mace calmly on his shoulder with a cocky smirk on his face. For some odd reason, Jaune felt like turning him into a pile of ash and tacky armor.

He decided to switch Prometheus to its melee form. The metal seemed to float away and food out of itself, then reassembled into a simple-looking shortsword with a line of light running u the middle of the blade. The once blue lights were now a yellow color.

He could hear some of the students in the seats above let out collective 'ooh's' and 'aah's'. "Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester, are you ready to begin?"

"As long as Kevin's ready."

"It's Cardin!"

"I see." He turned back to the professor, "As long as _Kevin_ is ready." He repeated, hearing an angry growl from his opponent.

Goodwitch signaled for them to begin. Jaune squared up and held his weapon in a one hand grip, turning sideways and waiting as the larger boy charged. He sidestepped and sliced at Cardin's hamstring, then slammed the pommel of the sword into the small of his back.

Cardin stumbled and turned around. Jaune pushed his glasses up his nose, then had to quickly block a strike from Cardin's mace. There weapons were now locked, never a good situation. Then, Cardin brought his knee up into Jaune's crotch. The boy's knees gave out and he fell on his side. He managed to roll out of the way of another strike.

He was surprised when a small explosion sent him rolling off to the side. That explained the crystal in the center of the mace. At least it gave him some distance. Jaune got up and brought out his pistol in his left hand.

He held the trigger down, the blue lights along the gun brightened and two strips on the sides of the wide barrel and stuck out to the sides. Energy started gathering at the end of the barrel and he stood, waiting for Cardin to charge once more. He obviously did. Jaune raised the gun once Cardin was no more than ten feet away and released the trigger, the gun shaking and pulsing with energy. The blast went of fright into his face, without his aura, Cardin would've certainly died.

Instead, he was sent back, sliding to a stop and unconscious. Some in the crowd noted that his eyebrows were smoking. Jaune lowered the smoking pistol and holstered it, along with Prometheus. He walked away without a word.

He went to the locker room and stowed his weapons, then began removing his armor. He shouldn't have slipped up and let Cardin hit him like that. He'd grown too confident.

If he was going to be ready fro the next time Zoom reared his head, he needed to be stronger, faster, smarter.

* * *

The next day, Jaune, RWBY and PRN had sat down at one of the lunch tables together. Jaune was reading from a pocket edition of a physics textbook, Blake reading her book, Weiss filing her nails, and the rest just talked and chatted about trivial matters.

"There we were, in the middle of the night."

"It was day."

"We were surrounded by Ursai."

"Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of them."

"But they were no match, and in the end, Ren and I made a boatload of lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

Ren sighed, "She's been having this dream for over a month now."

Jaune payed little mind when they all heard laughing and cries of pain coming from a few tables over to see Cardin and his lackeys picking a girl with brown rabbit ears on top of her head. "See? I told you they were real."

"What a freak!" They laughed and Cardin continued to pull on her ears.

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one." Blake said while glaring. Yang sighed, "It must be hard to be a faunus." They were a bit surprised when Jaune spoke up, "I agree. So, on a completely unrelated note, how much pressure do you guys think it takes to snap a guy's wrist?" They weren't quite sure if he was serious. "Never mind, I'll just guess." He got up and approached their table. He placed a hand firmly on Cardin's arm. "Cardin, I'll give you three seconds to let go of this girls ear before I make you wish you were left handed."

A bit shocked, Cardin loosened his grip enough for the girl to get free and leave. "Well, at least you can count to three." Jaune began walking back to the table when he ducked to avoid a sloppy right hook from Cardin. "Really?" He asked dryly, "You really wanna do this again?"

Cardin growled and tried another swing at his face. Jaune caught the fist, bringing one of his feet back and bracing with it. The boy brought his elbow down on Cardin's arm and heard a sickening pop. He cried out in pain. "Stop now, and you night be able to lift that arm above your head." Cardin was about to make a retort, when everyone turned to hear an angry woman's voice shouting, "What is going on here?!"

 _'Saved by the MILF, Winchester.'_ Jaune thought. "Mr. Arc. My office. _Now_."


End file.
